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The results are:
Routine Vision Testing in Schools 1971
Number of Children tested 6,310
Number referred for opinion of school medical officer 261
Of these:
75 were referred to the school Ophthalmic Clinics
18 were referred for treatment via family doctors at request of parents
62 were referred for re-examination at school health clinics
12 were considered to have normal vision
67 were already having ophthalmic treatment
4 left the area while investigations were proceeding
23 are still awaiting examination by school medical officers
Of the 75 children referred to the school Ophthalmic Clinics:
44 were prescribed glasses
12 were noted for re-examination
9 were discharged
10 are still under investigation
2 of the 75 were also referred to the school Orthoptic Clinic.
The use of colour in the education of children has assumed some importance particularly for
the very young; in some areas of teaching the ability to distinguish colours becomes crucial. Where a
child has inherited colour vision defects, his understanding of the teaching material and the underlying
principle of the subject may also be defective. It is essential then for teachers (and parents)
to be aware of this disability and to vary the teaching accordingly. During the year a new screening
test was introduced at the first routine medical inspection. The method depends upon the matching
of colour strips in a series of simple tests. Any child who fails to pass this procedure is re-tested using
a more sophisticated method distinguishing the type of colour deficiency. If this test is failed also,
the parents and teachers are informed of the defect in the child's vision and the significance explained.
Defects of Ears
Next to the large number of children with visual difficulties come those defects of the ears and
hearing, 11.8% of the total this year. This represents a welcome drop from the figures for 1971
(13.8%) and 1970 (12.8%). These figures are sufficiently large to warrant a close inspection of
hearing function in children since a moderate loss of hearing can produce serious hindrance to a
child's education. It has therefore been decided to increase the number of audiometric inspections,
so that every child is routinely inspected every three years, i.e. in the child's sixth, ninth, twelfth and
fifteenth year. An audiometrician was recruited and trained and began working in the autumn term
of 1972. There are now two audiometricians employed on a part-time basis. Beside making routine
inspections in schools, they are employed in special sessions in the school clinics where the school
medical officers see children referred to them because of suspected hearing loss. When the child
has been clinically examined and found to need treatment, advice is given or appointments made
via the referring service to either a hearing clinic or an ENT surgeon.
Defects of Nose and Throat
Most of the abnormal conditions associated with the upper respiratory tract are infections
and as might be expected are more common among the children at entrance examination (123). This
figure is roughly four times the frequency found among the older junior children (33) which again
is about four times that of the seniors (7). Essentially these infections are the greatest cause of school
absences in the infant classes where the young children are exposed to a variety of microbial
organisms with which they have to come to terms. The numbers of children seen with these conditions,
however, tend to decline each year—7.4% in 1970, 5.3% in 1971 and 4.8% in 1972. Few
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